Q1 2020 Vancouver Summary Office & Industrial Statistics

Metro Vancouver office and industrial leasing markets finished the first quarter largely on a flat note with demand for industrial space at a six year low, and office posting only modest gains after a very lacklustre back half of 2019. And that was before the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

With recession fears now gripping all parts of the economy, historic numbers are now virtually meaningless. Leasing conditions were highly restrictive at the onset of the pandemic for both office and industrial users, but with the business landscape very much changed, market conditions are expected to begin favouring tenants, albeit not for a period of time. Leasing markets are notoriously slow to react to a change in economic conditions, partly because of the long term nature of commercial leases, but with such a rapid deterioration in the economy, and already record job losses, it is anticipated both Vancouver's office and industrial space markets will react far more quickly in this downturn and participants need to start altering their outlook accordingly.